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The Department of Natural Resources said its officers arrested more people for boating under the influence on Georgia’s waterways this Memorial Day weekend than in 2012. According to Captain Mike England, head of DNR’s law enforcement division, there were 27 BUI arrests over the holiday weekend in 2012 and 42 arrests in 2013.

This Memorial Day weekend will be the first big test for officers charged with enforcing Georgia’s new Boating Under the Influence law. The BUI law went into effect on May 15 and changed the blood alcohol limit from 0.10 to 0.08 for people behind the wheel of a boat or watercraft.

A settlement may be in the works for a class-action lawsuit addressing poor Georgians' access to a public defender. The trial scheduled to start Thursday is cancelled. At issue is whether Georgia meets federal requirements to adequately provide legal counsel for indigent defendants.

Presiding Justice George Carley will leave the Georgia Supreme Court in July 2012, handing Gov. Nathan Deal a chance to name a replacement to the state's highest court. The 73-year-old Carley said Tuesday he will step down July 17, after all cases from the court's January term have been decided. Whoever Deal appoints must run for election in 2014.

Controversy flared last week over a Governor Deal appointment to the state’s new immigration enforcement panel. And there are concerns over its potential cost to municipalities. A portion of Georgia’s new immigration law creates the Immigration Enforcement Review Board, a seven-member panel appointed by state elected officials.

Savannah Mayor Otis S. Johnson is calling for stricter background checks for gun owners. The Savannah Morning News reports that during a Monday news conference, he urged Savannah residents to support tougher gun background checks. He was joined at the news conference by mothers of sons who were murdered and by police officers who have dodged bullets.

Lawyers for six parents have filed a class-action lawsuit against the state. The plaintiffs are in jail and can’t pay child support. The suit claims they should never have been jailed in the first place.

In a suit mailed to the Superior Court of Upson County Friday, plaintiff the Rev. Jonathan Wilkins accuses Georgia officials of violating his First and Second Amendment rights by enforcing state code restricting the carrying of guns in places of worship.

Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson says he plans not to vote for Elena Kagan’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a written statement, Isakson said a qualified judge rules based on law and does not legislate through decisions, and that he does "not believe Ms. Kagan’s record has met this standard.”